OK, Austin, to prove that I'm "fair" about mfgrs using customers as QC agents, here's another anecdote: I just returned and exchanged a Umax 3400 flatbed that banded, straight out of the box. I just put its replacement on line, and guess what? Yep, it banded, straight out of the box. Sloppy QC? You bet. The only bright note in this scenario is that it's gonna cost Umax quite a lot more than it's gonna cost me (I'm tempted to go get 3-4 more replacements, but it's too much hassle), except that they'll probably bench-test the scanners, "find no problem," and try to resell them to some schlubs that won't notice the difference until the warranty's run. End result: they'll lose 3 customers, instead of 1, and pick up $35 or so. Or not. "Bean Counters" learn all about factoring in business school, beit Harvard, Yale, Oxford or whatever. It's too bad they don't also learn how to factor-in their own short-sightedness! }-| Best regards--LRA >From: "Austin Franklin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: RE: filmscanners: Nikon 8000ED >Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 21:21:16 -0400 > > > > > OK, but to take the mfgrs' side (which I very rarely do), how do > > you "test" > > a filmscanner prior to shipment? > >I'd say do a scan of a standard slide in an automated test setup. This is >standard issue for most any product of "this nature". Cripes, for a $3k+ >scanner, they can take 4 minutes to make sure it works right! > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com